Inside The Bills

The Buffalo Bills new defense is going to need an influx of linebacking talent. And what better way to re-stock the linebacking corps than this week’s NFL Draft.

One of the team’s top scouts has his eye on LSU Linebacker Kevin Minter. He’s an inside linebacker who met with the Bills at the NFL Combine. In an appearance on The John Murphy Show, Bills Regional Scout Darrell Moody praised Minter’s natural football instincts.

“Very instinctive player,” Moody said. “He’s probably not as fast as some other linebackers in the league, but he makes up for it with his instincts and his savvy. He makes a lot of tackles. You’d like to see him knock more people back when he tackles them. But I think that’s a product of the offenses that they’re going against, there’s so many spread offenses I don’t think you get a chance to square ‘em up as much as you used to.”

Most scouts believe Minter is a solid second round pick this year. The Bills’ Moody has no doubt he’ll be able to play, saying “he will be a very productive player in this league.”

If there’s one negative about Minter, it might be his ability to cover in the passing game. Many NFL teams now expect their linebackers, even the inside backers, to hold their own in coverage.

“He’s not a liability down there (LSU) but he will have to cover better in this league than you do down there,” Moody told host John Murphy.

“This league is a league of mismatches and they’ll make him prove that he can do it. I think he has the ability to do it. Playing against the tight ends and the backs, most of the tight ends and backs. If you got him isolated on an elite back—I would take my chances with Spiller going one-on-one with him—but most of them, I think he’d be OK.”

The entire interview with Darrell Moody is available at Buffalobills.com\johnmurphyshow